Spring 2001

A 1996 law aimed at cracking down on serious juvenile lawbreakers has developed a crack of its own. The state Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that juvenile court judges do not have authority to grant immunity from prosecution to witnesses against juvenile defendants under the Youthful Offender Act. That statute makes juveniles age 14 and(...)

When Demetri and Linda Theofilou flew east from Chicago in the spring of 1997 to look for a house in the Boston suburbs, they knew they’d have to act quickly. Inventory was low, and housing prices were on the rise. They found a three-bedroom split-level that they liked, on Heritage Road in Billerica. The house(...)

In publishing, like politics, five years can be an eternity. Since 1996, a number of political publications have come and gone. Locally, the liberal opinion journal Otherwise and the state government newspaper Beacon Hill, both launched around the same time as this magazine, have disappeared; nationally, George, which debuted a year earlier, is history. As(...)

Despite a long economic recovery that has driven unemployment rates to new lows, many Massachusetts residents have not achieved the income level they enjoyed prior to the recession of the early ’90s. According to an analysis of census data by Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies for MassINC’s American Dream Project, median household income,(...)

Tip O’Neill and the Democratic CenturyBy John A. FarrellLittle, Brown and Co., New York, 776 pages Back in the Watergate summer of 1974, the syndicated columnist Mary McGrory was waxing eloquent about the men toiling to bring down Richard M. Nixon. “The night-school students are saving the country,” McGrory bubbled. “I don’t think [federal Judge(...)

It was a few days before the November election, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was determined to prevent the White House from falling into Republican hands. So he stormed onto the Senate floor to heap one last round of abuse on a Republican nominee whose ideology clearly appalled the liberal war horse. “The Bush record(...)

All is well in the Commonwealth–or so the state’s political leaders would have everyone believe. Certainly there is a lot to crow about compared to five years ago, when CommonWealth published its first issue: Incomes are up, unemployment is down, the real estate market is booming, and the citizenry is, for the most part, content,(...)

HOLLAND–It is a quaint, wooded town of 2,300, nestled between Sturbridge and Brimfield on the banks of the pristine Hamilton Reservoir. A white, steepled church, a school, the town hall and a tiny library are all there is to the center; down the hill are a gas station and a pizza place, completing Holland’s commercial(...)

Last December, after much wrangling between state officials, city officials, developers–especially my client, Hyatt Development–and environmentalists, state Environmental Affairs Secretary Robert Durand approved a plan for the development of Boston’s Fan Pier. The Fan Pier design, which allows for a mix of housing, hotels, office buildings, shops, restaurants, and a new home for the Institute(...)

Over its five years of publication, CommonWealth has displayed a consistent interest in city living–specifically, how cities from Boston to Pittsfield can stay or become safe, vibrant, satisfying places for people to live, work, and raise children. And it’s safe to say that many, if not most, Massachusetts cities have seen their fortunes improve over(...)